UFC Vegas 66: Vlismas vs McKenna

The UFC returns to the Las Vegas Apex this Saturday for the last card of 2022, headlined by top 10 middleweights Sean Strickland (25-4-0) and Jared Cannonier (15-6-0). With 13 scheduled bouts, the card may not be stacked with well known names but it is littered with great matchmaking. The featured bout of the prelims consists of two prospects in the strawweight division, the only two women on this card, Cheyanne Vlismas (7-2-0) and Cory McKenna (7-2-0).

Cheyanne Vlismas, the current betting favourite, made her UFC debut in the early months of 2021 following a dominant unanimous decision win in 2020 on Dana White’s Contender Series. Despite her 9 professional fights, Vlismas was quite active as an amateur, giving her the edge of experience in the octagon in her upcoming bout this Saturday over one of the youngest prospects on the roster, Cory McKenna. Vlismas has taken over a year off from the octagon due to personal reasons but has seemingly been actively training in the country of Georgia for this camp, according to her Instagram. Vlismas has incredible footwork, throwing combinations at her opponents and cutting the cage immediately to stay out of the way of a possible counter strike or takedown. In her last fight versus Mallory Martin (6-2-0) she came in on short notice and despite the limited time to prepare for her opponent and having COVID-19 weeks before, her cardio held up beautifully throughout all three rounds, staying active on the feet and winning the fight by unanimous decision. Her lone loss in the UFC came to Montserrat Ruiz (5-1-0) who is quite the grappler, showing her ability to control and damage her opponents on the ground in their fight. Since this loss, Vlismas has gone on to win two in a row and seems to improve each time she steps in the octagon. Mallory Martin attempted 5 takedowns against Vlismas and was not able to secure any of the attempts, while Vlismas kept her volume high and landed an impressive 134 significant strikes out of the 271 she threw. Something that I enjoy about Vlismas is her aggressive approach to fighting, not only showing in her volume and impact but also in her attitude during her fights, talking to her opponents and inflicting damage every chance that she gets.

Cory McKenna is a young 23 year old prospect fighting out of the highly respected gym Alpha Male, ran by UFC veteran Urijah Faber. As most fighters that come out of that gym, McKenna has a strong base in grappling, with a takedown average of 53% and an impressive takedown defense of 71% according to her UFC stats. McKenna made her UFC debut in 2020 against Kay Hansen (7-6-0), winning the fight via unanimous decision. She is also a Dana White Contender series alum. Despite being one of the youngest fighters on the roster, McKenna made it into the history books her last time out in the octagon, securing the first Von Flue choke in women’s MMA history against Miranda Granger (7-3-0). McKenna seems to improve each time she gets in the octagon considering how young she is and the killers she must be training with at Alpha Male. Her lone loss in the UFC was against Elise Reed (6-2-0), although McKenna was able to take Reed down to the canvas 3 times, the damage from Reed’s striking and ability to get back up is what ended up securing Reed the decision win. McKenna may be known as a grappler but I can appreciate her defensive movement on the feet and the intention for damage she throws with her strikes. As many wrestlers favour the overhand right into a takedown, we often see McKenna doing the same. When watching her recent previous fights, I commend her awareness of range keeping a smart amount of distance from her opponent. McKenna is a patient fighter, her takedowns are very well calculated and once she is on top, it seems to be quite the task to get out from under her.

Breakdown/Prediction

I am almost surprised to see the UFC put these two prospects against each other so early in their UFC careers. They both share a record of 7-2-0. McKenna has the reach disadvantage in this fight, which is a common task that she deals with considering she has the shortest reach on the UFC roster. This fight is quite interesting, with McKenna being the strong grappler that she is and Vlismas with her only loss in the UFC coming to Montesserat Ruiz, a grappler that respectfully is not on the level of McKenna. We can counteract that point with McKenna’s only loss in the UFC against Elise Reed, who I also believe is not on the level of Vlismas when it comes to striking. When both fighters are experts in their own game, it’s important to look at experience and ability to apply fight IQ. Vlismas came into her last fight on short notice and showed great takedown defense, so I assume that with a full camp to train for a grappler, she will be prepared to defend the game plan of McKenna. McKenna needs to implement her game plan early on and try to wear Vlismas down with the clinch and takedowns because Vlismas has shown the weapon that her cardio can be, the only issue I see with McKenna being able to secure a takedown early on is Vlismas’ footwork and ability to stay out of the range of her opponents. Each time I watch her fight, i’m extremely impressed with her discipline and skill on the feet. Something I also notice when watching McKenna is how heavily she leans on her lead leg and with Vlismas mixing up her striking as well as she does, I think she will be looking to throw a lot of leg kicks and pressure McKenna backward, taking the strength from McKenna’s leg and discouraging her from shooting that takedown. If Mckenna can secure a takedown or two early on, I know that Vlismas will be in trouble. McKenna is a durable fighter and has never been finished in her professional career, I do not assume that Vlismas will finish her but I do think that her technique on the feet, improvement in takedown defense, her aggression and pressure will be a lot for McKenna to handle and will get Vlismas the decision win here. Regardless of the outcome in this fight, both women have a bright future in the strawweight division so this is a fight well worth the watch.

Prediction:
Cheyanne Vlismas via Decision
(Please note: This prediction is not associated with the MMAPlay365 packages, subscriptions or services)